The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, January 29, 2020 — 7A

Johnson, Hillmon adding leadership

On 
Sunday, 
the 
Michigan 
women’s 
basketball 
team 
desperately needed a win against 
Rutgers to get its season back on 
track. Putting up a career-high 
24 points and 11 rebounds, senior 
guard Akienreh Johnson stepped 
up with her first career double-
double to help the Wolverines 
win, 71-57. Her performance was 
even more crucial with senior 
forward Kayla Robbins out with 
a torn ACL.
But equally important to her 
performance on the court has 
been her emergence as a leader. 
It’s something she’s had to do all 
season, but now that Robbins is 
out, she’s the only healthy senior 
on the team — thrust into a much 
higher-pressure situation. 
She answered the call. 
“That’s the first thing I thought 
about (after Robbins’ injury) 
when we got back to Ann Arbor, 
is like, ‘How am I going to lead 
this team without my partner in 
crime?’ ” Johnson said last week. 
“We’re still roommates, we’re 
still going to do that, but it’s just 
going to be difficult without an 

experienced person and that’s 
part of the worker she is. She’s 
just not going to be on the court. 
So my leadership role is definitely 
going to have to change.”
That change was clear Sunday. 
With three freshmen — guards 
Maddie 
Nolan 
and 
Michelle 
Sidor, and center Izabel Varejão 
— all seeing meaningful minutes, 
Johnson was much more vocal 
on the court than she has been 
in the past. When her teammates 
made shots, she was the first to 
congratulate them. When they 
missed shots, she was there to 
pick them up. 
But even more telling of her 
leadership 
capabilities, 
she 
publicly called on them to step up. 
“(My role) is going to have 
to change, but also everybody 
else,” Johnson said. “(Sophomore 
forward Naz Hillmon) is going to 
have to step up, be a more vocal 
leader. Amy (Dilk) is going to 
have to step up. I think Danielle 
(Rauch) did a great job during 
that game of being a vocal leader 
… I’m only one person, and it’s 
just not going to get done with 
just one person being a leader on 
the court.”
Hillmon will be looking to 

answer that call. Though she’s 
only a sophomore, her role as the 
team’s leading scorer means that 
she’ll need to mature as a player 
more quickly than her teammates. 
On Sunday, she led by example. 
Beyond her usual scoring — she 
scored 20 points, 3.9 more than 
her season average — she added 
12 rebounds. On defense, she 
anchored a 2-3 zone that helped 
force the Scarlet Knights into 17 
turnovers.
“I think that I’m still coming 
into that role, just trying to make 
sure I’m focusing on myself, make 
sure I’m focused in,” Hillmon 
said. “Because I can’t really tell 
other people to do stuff that I’m 
not already locked in on. … Trying 
to talk as much as I can, especially 
when we’re in zone. I mean the 
top of the zone doesn’t know 
what’s going on half the time and 
just trying to be in those huddles, 
being a positive energy.”
It’ll be a process for both 
Johnson and Hillmon to adapt to 
their new roles. Both of them have 
stressed that they’re going to lead 
their own way — they won’t try to 
be Kayla Robbins. 
Against Rutgers, they showed 
that they don’t have to be.

Michigan sweeps ITA kickoff, 2-0

Andrea Cerdan was ready to 
deliver the dagger.
The freshman had taken the 
upper 
hand 
against 
Valeriya 
Zeleva, forcing her into the alley 
to respond to an aggressive series 
of groundstrokes. All Zeleva could 
manage was a desperation heave, 
sending the ball in a slow, looping 
trajectory over the net, while 
Cerdan positioned herself for a 
volley to put the point out of reach.
She fired it into the net.
The dagger would have to wait.
The No. 15 Michigan women’s 
tennis team (2-0) played host 
to 
the 
International 
Tennis 
Association 
kick-off 
meet 
at 
the Varsity Tennis Center this 
weekend, and after a 4-2 semifinal 
win over Mississippi (3-1) and a 
4-2 defeat of No. 12 Central Florida 
(2-1), the Wolverines clinched a 
berth to the ITA National Team 
indoor championship. It did not go 
without a hitch.
“We’re going to have a lot of 
opportunities there to play the top 
teams in the country,” Michigan 
coach Ronni Bernstein said. “That 
was our goal, so (we’re) happy to 
get through this weekend.”
Against 
the 
Rebels, 
the 
Wolverines jumped out to an early 
lead thanks to their sweep of the 
doubles matches; in the singles, 
the only major casualty was No. 1 
singles player and No. 26 overall, 
senior Guilia Pairone, who fell in 
straight sets. 
“For our first match, to play 
a quality team like that and get 
through … that was a big team 
win,” Bernstein said.
On Sunday, Michigan found 
itself on the other side of a 
doubles sweep. Two of Central 
Florida’s pairs ranked inside the 
top 15 nationally, compared to 
three unranked Wolverine duos. 
Michigan kept all three matches 
close with competence on the 
baseline, but Central Florida used 
its subtlety at the net to create 
winners and end rallies in its favor; 
the same could not be said for the 
Wolverines.

“We’re staying back more, and 
they’re hitting it big,” Bernstein 
said, “so it’s hard to come in unless 
it’s the right ball, so maybe they 
just weren’t picking the right ball.”
Six points were still available 
at the start of singles play, and 
both squads claimed one after 
early 
straight-set 
victories. 
Meanwhile, 
Pairone 
and 
the 
Knights’ 
Evgeniya 
Levashova 
took their time, exchanging long 
rallies and dueling deep into each 
game. Levashova grabbed a slight 
advantage when she went up a 
break, riding it to a first set victory. 
On the other side of the 
complex, 
Cerdan 
dropped 
a 
tightly-contested first set, 7-5.
“The first set, I was going a little 
bit too much, being a little overly 
aggressive.” Cerdan said. “I was 
too focused on holding back or 
being too aggressive; I couldn’t 
find the in-between. That also led 
to me getting frustrated.”
Cerdan found the balance deep 
in the second set. Moments after 
the unforced error on the volley, 
she faced a similar opportunity 
on a set point. Zeleva surrendered 
another lob, but before she could 
get back to the middle, Cerdan 
used an overhead smash — over 
the net this time — to even the 
match. She took the third set, 6-1, 
delivering the final blow.
While Pairone won her second 
set by that same score, senior 
Chiara Lommer was frustrated on 
the adjacent court. 
She had made quick work of 
Nadja Bay Christians in the first 

set, 6-2, and built a 5-1 lead in the 
second, but began to hemorrhage 
points. As the match wore on, 
she leaned on her forehand more 
and more, taking inside-out shots 
instead of the more efficient 
backhand 
from 
the 
baseline 
corner. 
Her 
groundstrokes 
barraged the net, leaving ample 
“what-ifs.”
“I haven’t been feeling great on 
the court, so a little bit of belief in 
closing out the second set was just 
missing,” Lommer said. “And she 
also, obviously, didn’t miss a ball 
anymore.”
Bernstein 
stopped 
pacing 
around the remaining matches 
and sat by Lommer’s court.
“I knew that I didn’t want her to 
slip,” Bernstein said. “She had a big 
lead, you want them to get off the 
court there, get that third point.”
Lommer managed to win the 
first-to-seven tiebreaker, taking 
the set, match and even more 
crucially, the fourth and final point 
needed for Michigan’s team win. 
“That’s a great win for her,” 
Bernstein said. “For her to come 
back in that pressure moment, to 
come through, I think it’s going 
to give her a lot of confidence. I’m 
really proud of how she fought and 
stuck with it.”
Lommer fell to her knees as Bay 
Christians’ final ball soared out 
of bounds. The first to join her in 
celebration was Pairone, whose 
match was abandoned in the midst 
of a neck-and-neck third set. 
Cerdan wasn’t far behind. She 
had delivered the dagger after all.

It’s a moment Michigan coach 
Sean Bormet always talks about: 
being the guy to decide the 
match. The one with the weight 
of the team on your shoulders. 
It’s usually the heavyweights. 
The 125-pound duals get the 
match started off on the right 
foot, then sit back and watch 
their teammates try and pull out 
a victory. 
But Friday night, on the road 
against No. 15 Northwestern (3-4 
overall, 1-3 Big Ten), 125-pound 
redshirt sophomore Jack Medley 
found himself competing in the 
final bout of the night with the 
score tied at 17. 
“I think Jack enjoyed the 
moment 
and 
enjoyed 
the 
opportunity,” Bormet said. “... 
I turned around on the bench 
to check with each guy before 
they step on the mat. I could 
see he was excited and eager for 
the moment to be the last guy to 
wrestle and decide the team dual 
victory.”
The Wildcats won the coin 
toss and strategically started 
the dual with the 133-pound 
bout in hopes that the fate of 
the dual would come down to 
the 125-bout. Their wish was 
granted, but it was Medley and 
the No. 25 Michigan wrestling 
team (5-3, 4-1) that pulled off the 
upset road victory, 20-17, over 
Northwestern. 
Medley faced sixth-ranked 
Michael DeAugustino with the 
dual on the line. The score was 
tied after the first period, with 
neither wrestler finding the 
opportunity for a takedown. 
DeAugustino scored an escape 
point to take the lead in the 
second 
period, 
but 
Medley 
quickly evened the score with 
an escape of his own to start the 
third, and final, period. 
With 1:24 left in the third 
period, 
Medley 
scored 
a 
takedown, putting him up, 3-1, 
which would ultimately be the 
deciding factor in the match and 

meet. With under one minute 
left, 
DeAugustino 
needed 
a 
takedown for the comeback 
victory. 
“The last 15 seconds I told 
myself, ‘Stay smart don’t back up 
and get a stalling call’ cause I had 
a stalling call against me, so that 
would have given him a point,” 
Medley said. 
Though he scored an escape 
point, 
Medley 
miraculously 
avoided a takedown with just 
nine seconds left to clinch the 
bout. Medley won, 3-2, securing 
an upset victory for himself and 
a 20-17 win for his team. 
“He’s a guy that’s a tireless 
worker and we as a staff and as a 
team have a ton of confidence in 
Jack,” Bormet said.
Competing in an unusual spot 
in the lineup and wrestling a 
highly-ranked opponent did not 
faze Medley and was a challenge 
he fully embraced. 
“They definitely had a strategy 
of having our match as the last 
match to give their other guy 
some 
more 
recovery 
time,” 
Medley said. “But it didn’t 
matter.” 
The Wolverines began the 
match strong, winning the first 
three bouts in dominant fashion 
to give Michigan a 12-0 lead. 133-
pound fifth-year senior Austin 
Assad set the tone from the onset 
with a 10-0 major decision. 
However, 
inconsistency 
in the middleweights, which 
has plagued the Wolverines 
throughout the season, caused 
the outcome of the dual to be in 
doubt. After a hot start, Michigan 
lost five straight bouts in the 
157, 165, 174, 184 and 197 weight 
classes. 
“I think we need to be 
consistent in how we think and 
in how we wrestle,” Bormet said. 
“There were a couple of matches 
that we lost our composure and 
we didn’t refocus the way we 
needed to.”
The 
Wildcats 
turned 
a 
12-point deficit into a 14-12 lead 
after 
11th-ranked, 
184-pound 
redshirt 
sophomore 
Jelani 
Embree fell to Northwestern’s 

Jack Jessen. Embree took a 2-1 
lead after the first period, but was 
taken down in the second period 
and never recovered. Jessen 
won the decision, 7-6, and, more 
importantly, stole the lead and 
momentum from the Wolverines. 
“I think (Embree) was really 
capable of scoring with his speed 
and some leg attacks,” Bormet 
said. “He kinda got caught up 
wrestling 
some 
upper 
body 
positions that he is pretty good 
it but its just positions that he 
didn’t need to wrestle in.”
Sophomore 
and 
No. 
2 
heavyweight 
wrestler 
Mason 
Parris brought consistency back 
to the team as he dominated his 
bought.
Parris’ 20-5 win, including a 
technical fall and bonus points, 
proved instrumental in a victory 
that provided momentum and 
confidence to the wrestlers. 
“I think this team is still 
learning a lot but we are starting 
to come together,” Medley said. “I 
think a lot of our guys are starting 
to believe in themselves.”

Split decision

Michigan wrestling’s Jelani 
Embree battled Illinois’ Zac 
Braunagel for control in the 
184-pound match. 
Down 4-3 in the match, 
Braunagel went low, grabbed 
Embree’s legs and slammed 
him onto the mat to take the 
lead, 5-4. Braunagel finished 
Embree 
with 
a 
second 
thunderous takedown to end 
the match and clinch the 
meet for the No. 15 Illini (5-3 
overall, 2-2 Big Ten) giving 
them a 20-13 win over No. 23 
Michigan (5-3, 4-1) on Sunday 
afternoon. 
“I’ll say it wasn’t our best 
performance,” Michigan coach 
Sean Bormet said. “We lost 
some close matches. (Had) 
some attacks that didn’t finish 
cleanly, quickly. We had a 
couple matches in the middle 
get away from us with some 
bonus points.”

The Illini got off to a quick 
start, winning the first three 
matches. 
Travis 
Piotrowski 
had an early takedown in the 
133-pound match against the 
Wolverines’ 
redshirt 
senior 
Austin 
Assad. 
But 
Assad 
fought back before losing, 9-7. 
In the 141-pound 
match, 
Dylan 
Duncan 
swept 
freshman 
Cole 
Mattin 6-0 to 
extend 
Illinois 
to 9-0. Michigan 
responded 
in 
the 
149-pound 
match 
with 
redshirt 
junior 
Kanen 
Storr 
gaining a bonus 
point to cut the lead to 9-4. 
Redshirt freshman Will Lewan 
followed that up with another 
win over Eric Barone to cut the 
Illini lead to two. 
“I’d say Kanen Storr wrestled 
pretty well, offensively and 
on his feet,” Bormet said. 
“But he needs to find ways to 

take guys to their back off his 
takedowns (that’s) something 
he’s working on. He had some 
missed opportunities there. 
But I think Kanen wrestled 
really well on his feet.”
Junior Reece Hughes missed 
several early opportunities for 
takedowns 
in 
the 165-pound 
match. 
Danny 
Braunagel took 
advantage 
with two late 
takedowns and 
extended 
the 
Illinois 
lead 
with a bonus 
point to 13-7. 
Joey 
Gunther 
added another 
bonus point with a 15-3 major 
decision before Zac Braunagel 
clinched the win.
“Guys did some good things 
in really almost every match,” 
Bormet said. “Overall I thought 
we wrestled pretty hard. Just 
in some critical moments, we 
just didn’t get as tough as we 
needed to on some finishes, 
we didn’t get as tough as we 
needed to on some defenses.”
Redshirt 
senior 
Jackson 
Striggow 
won 
his 
match 
with a single leg takedown 
and 
sophomore 
Mason 
Parris dominated with four 
takedowns to add consolation 
victories for the Wolverines.
In the end it was too little, 
too late for Michigan, and 
Bormet believes there were 
several missed chances in the 
match.
“We’re going to continue to 
work on the things we’ve been 
working on which is finishing 
our 
leg 
attacks, 
defending 
our legs and mat returns,” 
Bormet said. “Those would be 
the three things we’re going 
to continue to work on. They 
were three areas that cost us 
some matches today.
“Every one of these guys had 
opportunities to score more, 
we left a lot of points on the 
match and it cost us a couple 
matches.”

Michigan beats Northwestern, falls to Illinois in weekend swing, giving Wolverines first Big Ten loss

JACK WHITTEN
Daily Sports Writer

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior Chiara Lommer won, 6-2, 7-6, in Michigan’s win over Central Florida.

BRENDAN ROOSE
Daily Sports Writer

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Redshirt junior Kanen Storr excelled Sunday, despite Michigan’s eventual 20-13 loss to Illinois that finished a weekend split.

AVI RAJENDRA-NICOLUCCI
Daily Sports Writer

LILY ISRAEL
Daily Sports Writer

Guys did some 
good things in 
really almost 
every match.

EMMA MATI/Daily
Senior guard Akeinreh Johnson has stepped up as a leader after Kayla Robbins’ ACL tear sidlined her for the season.

